My technical site

Menu

Review: Ski Safari

Hurtling down the slopes on the skimobile while a yeti and pengiun grab a lift.

Since we are now in the festive season I thought it might be time for a break, let’s play a game on two on the iPad.

Ski Safari is my favourite “endless runner”. Sure, others might talk of JetPack Joyride or Tiny Wings but this is the 2D side scroller for me.

The concept of Ski Safari is that you control Sven who is skiing down an endless mountain trying to stay ahead of an avalanche. You tap the screen to jump and hold it down for Sven to rotate counter-clockwise so that he hits the now at the right angle or perhaps does an entire backflip.

As you descend the mountain you run into various creatures such as penguins and yetis that will give you a ride down the mountain faster, running into an obstacle deprives you of your ride. The ultimate speed boost is a skimobile, but take care as penguins and yetis will grab a lift slowing your snowmobile. At the same time you have to avoid obstacles such as houses, rocks and trees. Doing a backflip gains you a temporary speed boost and ups the score multiplier.

In the Christmas theme you can end up with your sleigh pulled by Randolph (see his glowing nose).

The game also sets a number of challenges such as doing a double backflip or catching a ride on an eagle that earn you stars and after a certain number of stars you go up in rank, allowing you to gain a higher score multiplier during the game. The challenges seem the perfect excuse for just one more game, keeping my interest for hours.

The developers have just added a fifth, Christmas themed, course with some cute graphics, if you try you can even find Rudolph with his nose so bright. There is an in app store where you can buy boosters, outfits and other elements using coins collected during the game or purchased with real money.

The cute music, fun graphics and ease of play make this a great game for the casual gamer. I have to admit to being entranced by the little penguins, yetis, wolves, snowmobiles and other elements of the game. The design seems to come together in a brilliant, fun way.

I also appreciate that the developers have continued to add new courses and content since I bought the game so I always seem to have something new to explore. The Christmas and Halloween themed courses add great variety with different animals, obstacles and graphics.

Serious gamers may prefer something a little harder but personally this game sits right for me. I find it easy enough to reward occasional play while practice and levelling up improve things as I go. I’m now finding that a single game can take quite a while, serious gamers might prefer a steeper learning curve.